Fired for Blog Post – Reader’s Comment

Here is a quote from the email I received:

"…one day I wrote a blog on my MySpace just venting my frustrations with work. I had become so worn down by her personal attacks that I resulted to calling her a name in the blog. My profile was public at the time. I did not know this until much later,… but one of my brown-nosing coworkers whom I had never done any wrong to came across my profile and read my blog and immediately turned to the boss and showed it to her. She proceeded to tell her husband about it (who, mind you, I always got along with) and they both became very angry about it. They called me into a meeting and promptly fired me for what I had written on the Internet. when I told them they cannot do that, as that is a violation of my rights and grounds for wrongful termination, they plainly stated "well, for the record, were firing you for your bad attitude!"

This email got me thinking about how many people have an online profile that may or may not be private. If you are a job seeker looking for a job or maybe you have a job, but you are not focused how your online presence may impact your current job situation. This email from my reader should be a wake up call to you. What you write, becomes part of who you are in your present life, and your future life. If it matters to you how people perceive you, than learn the lesson of my reader.

Social networking like Facebook and LinkedIn, blogging are tools that allow for freedom of expression, But understand your freedom must be tempered with prudence. Privacy today is limited because of the internet. Use wisdom when handling issues that come up in the workplace.

My advice/response to this reader:

The blog post was completely unprofessional. Should you have been terminated for it? That is questionable. Especially given that it has nothing to do with your performance. The reason it could potentially be a roadblock for you has more to do with judgment and professionalism. Those are critical for any future job.

As far as your response to hiring managers, my recommendation is that you communicate to them that you used poor judgment to handle a situation with your previous employer. Specifically, "I wrote a blog post about the poor working conditions at my previous place of employment. The blog post was found by a coworker and the information was given to the owners of the company. As a result I was terminated. What I learned from this, is that I need to handle things directly and internally rather than venting online internet. It will never happen again! I am commited to making good decisions in the future even in the face of a challenging work environment."

Lessons Learned:

1. Don’t vent in a public forum concerning your current employer

2. Chose out of volitale situations rather than hoping things will get better

3. Presentation is everything! Just like you must dress appropriately for an interview, keep in mind that all of your internet dealings are part of the hiring process today. Be careful about what you say and do when visiting and communicating thoughts online.

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